Lilith - the dark moon

In the beginning was the Great Goddess,
and the Goddess was the Earth, and the Earth was the Goddess. The
origins of the cult of the Great Goddess lie hidden in the dim twilight
of prehistoric time. The Goddess ruled for hundreds of thousands of
years. In the course of time, the Mother-Goddess was overthrown and
driven under, and the triumph of the most patriarchal of archetypes
- Jahwe, God the Father, Allah - was complete in the Judaic, Christian
and Moslem worlds. It was only in the tamed form of Mary, Mother of
God, that some aspects of the Mother Goddess were permitted to survive.
Various Black Madonnas in ancient sanctuaries still bear witness to
her.

The figure of Lilith represents one aspect
of the Great Goddess. In ancient Babylon, she was worshipped as
Lilitu, Ischtar or Lamaschtu. Jewish mythology already puts her
into darker realms - an evil Demon of the night, a fitting mate
for Satan, lying in wait for men, and killing children.

The Astronomical Lilith

The Moon travels along an elliptical path
around the Earth. An ellipse has two focal points, and the
other focal point, not occupied by the Earth has been called
the Dark
Moon, the Black Moon or Lilith. This is a slightly simplified
definition, since, actually, the Moon and the Earth both
move around their common
centre of gravity, and the path of the Moon is not a neat
ellipse, but a rather wobbly affair. One must distinguish
between the mean
orbit of the Moon, which is a slowly elongating ellipse,
and the actual orbit, which vaccilates around the mean path,
due to interference
of various kinds. Just as there a "mean" and a "true" Lunar
Node, so there is a "mean" and a "true" ellipse and a "mean" and
a "true"
Lilith. I write "true" in inverted commas, because the Moon's
Node is only "true" about twice per month, when the Moon
is actually on it, for the rest of the time, it is as "untrue" as
the mean Node. In fact, when working with a point so close
to
the Earth, one should
also take the great parallax into consideration, i.e. consider,
from which point on the Earth one is actually looking at
a point
in the heavens. Astrology observes the planets geocentrically,
as if from the Earth's centre, and not topocentrically, from
the actual
place of the observer.

The Dark
Moon has also been defined as the apogee of the Moon's orbit,
or that point in the orbit
farthest from the Earth. Both these points, the apogee
and the second focal point, lie on the long axis of the orbital
ellipse,
the line of apsides. Seen from the Earth, they lie in the
same direction, and therefore occupy the same place in the zodiac.
The second focal
point lies at a distance only about 36´000 km from the Earth,
the apogee at about 400´000 km. Apart from this, both definitions
can be regarded as being equivalent. Because the orbit of the Moon
continually shifts forward in space, the Dark Moon moves along the
zodiac at about 40° per year. A complete revolution
takes 8 years and 10 months.

Lilith in the Chart
The glyph used for Lilith is a black
Moon, as opposed to that used for the real Moon. Lilith is included
in the chart drawing Type 2.AC, some other drawing types,
such as 2.AT show Lilith in the table of planetary positions.

Interpreting Lilith "During my years of astrological practice, I have come
to use the Dark Moon in all my chart analyses, as a complement to
interpretating the Moon. It would never occur to me to neglect this
influence. The Dark Moon describes our relationship to the absolute,
to sacrifice as such, and shows how we let go. In transit, the Dark
Moon indicates some form of castration or frustration, frequently
in the areas of desire, a powerlessness of the psyche, or a general
inhibition. On the other hand, it shows where we question ourselves,
our lives, our jobs, and our beliefs. I feel this is important,
since it gives us the opportunity to "let go" of something. The
Dark Moon shows where we can let the Whole flow into our selves,
without putting an "I" in the way, without putting up a wall in
the form of ego. At the same time, it doesn't indicate passivity
- on the contrary - it symbolizes the firm will to be open and trusting,
to let the Greater World flow through one, relying entirely on the
great laws of the universe, on that which we name God. To prepare
us for this opening, the Dark Moon creates a necessary void."